DiabloFans

Quote from Bokononism

Is the emphasis on processors or video cards for D3?

Anyone have any insight to my above post?

Hey there, thats that difficult question. I personally believe that Blizzard put a pretty equal spread of performance between CPU and GPU, maybe more on the CPU, since gpu performances (between different levels and generations) vary on a much greater scale than cpus.

Your CPU should be no problem, and your video card will also do the job (medium)

Take a look at this:
http://www.gamespot....-it-go-6337821/

The 9800gt is almost identical to the 8800gt in terms of performance (but runs cooler and more efficient). However, you have to realize that gamespot test was done in town with little or no action. You should expect your fps to drop if you are actually playing, so that is why I say a medium should be fine.

If you are looking for more in D3, in terms of performance and also eye candies (AA and etc). A 100 dollar video card should be fine. You can probably find older cards like 460 gtx at 130 (It's better than 550ti), and 6770 around 80. Newer cards around that price point would probably be a 7750. You won't see any low end 600 series cards from Nvidia for a little while though.

I would suggest to try it out with your current 9800gt, and then decide how much of a performance boost you want. I mean the game is coming out in a few hours right?

hmm I hate choosing motherboards, a lot of the times you can't really justify the cost.

But from ibuypower's selection, ASRock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 could be a good alternative choice, it is listed at the same price as Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 on ibuypower, but on newegg, it is $40 apart.
On newegg, the ASRock board is at $200 (mostly because its new), and the gigabyte board at $160. The 2 boards are very similar except that ASRock have PCI-E 3.0, but 1 less year of warranty (2 instead of 3)
PCI-E 3.0 wont be 'useful' for at least 3 more years I would say, and untested technologies always have a risk for troubles. So it wont be anything of a loss if you go with gigabyte.

For the Smart Response, I have not used it personally, and it is a fairly new thing that came out this summer. I built my computer this summer, and went with a 120gb ssd, installed the OS, the frequent used programs on there, and kept all the music, movies, and the infrequent used programs on the regular harddrive.
Actually, if IBuypower can setup the SRT up for you, why not try it, get a 120gb harddrive, ask them to have 80gb for C: and the rest of the 40 for SRT, apparently it has to be setup while installing windows.


For the cooling, the liquid cooler they are selling seems to be fairly new, I couldnt find a review online, but someone did mention that it is the OEM edition for Corsair's H50 which is a reputable brand liquid cooler (but can still leak). The 1 year you said, is that Ibuypower's coverage or the manufacturer Asetek's coverage? If the manufacturer only covers your parts for 1 year, its probably a good idea to stay away from it.
Do you know any friends that build computers regularly? maybe get a friend to help you take the stock heatsink off, and install another heatsink (Coolermaster's Hyper 212+ is a good one, its around $25)

Dont forget the free games on the site.

Quote from Tekkiller

I cannot seem to select the "sandybridge 2600". What is it? I5/I7? Should I call them about it? Which motherboard do I need to get for the sandybridge? Which type of RAM do I need to get then?

No problem. I understand you'll be using http://www.ibuypower.com/ right? So if you go to the homepage, mouse over Desktop -> Intel Desktop -> Z68, or Desktop -> Custom Configurator -> Intel -> Intel Z68

You can decide on the 2600 or 2600k, its $15, and the thing is much easier to overclock than previous generation cpus. if several years down the road, you feel you want a boost and want to play around with the hardware, you'll have that option.

Or as other mentioned, a i5 2500 or 2500k (the one i have). Its just that you selected 980 in your post, I thought you wanted that degree of power. 2500k is perfectly fine for gaming, its regular usage performance is just a little bit behind of 2600k, but you save another $100. It is only when your program need hyperthreading (2500k lacks), like encoding videos, the 2500k will show significant disadvantage. So if you do video encoding, autoCAD (i think that uses hypertheading now), and other intensive programs, go with a 2600/2600k, if not then 2500/2500k is a better choice for the money.

Once you get on to the selection page, under "Processor Cooling::Certified CPU Fan and Heatsink" there's only 3 options, 2 liquid cooling and a "Certified CPU Fan and Heatsink" I think you should ask them what that "Certified CPU Fan and Heatsink" is, if its a brand name heatsink, such as coolermaster, noctua, and etc. If they do give you a specific brand and model, posted it here we'll help you do a little research online to see how it is. The ability of heatsinks vary greatly, and if you want to go with air cooling, you want to know which one you are getting.

On the other hand, if you do decide to go liquid cooling, find out their warranty coverage, especially leak protection. It happens rarely, but it can happen.

Lastly, for the videocard, if you are planning to keep this beast for 5 years (which i assume will be the case), you dont want to do any upgrading during this time, 580gtx is probably the better choice. But if you plan to get into computer hardwares and maybe upgrade your videocard sometime in the 2 years, maybe 570 gtx or even a overclocked 560ti gtx

Sorry to hear about your computer.
Im sure you know buying the parts yourself and getting your local store or a friend to build it will be much cheaper, and that if you just want to play D3, a 1000 pc will do. But thats not the purpose of this thread.

So lets get to business.

Going over your setup, i believe you are spending too much while not getting the most out of it. And it seems that you are not very concerned with budgeting, so

First and foremost, go with Sandy bridge, the 2600K is $300 but just as good (if not better) than the 980, which is $600. Going with Sandybridge will let you get newer technology in the motherboard, and 8gb memory for much cheaper, since it is the mainstream now.
Secondly, if you are willing to spend 2000 on PC hardware, you should get at least a 120gb ssd for your boot drive. Same goes with the videocard, 570gtx will run diablo3 maxed out for sure, but a 580gtx is going to be a better choice for a 2grand pc.
Next, for your data harddrive, get the 64mb cache.
Lastly, the sound card, if you are not into sound editing, its probably not necessary.

For the questions:
1) Go with aircooling if you are not going to overclock, the 2600K runs very cool. The problem is that the site doesnt give you any information or option to select which heatsinks are available, maybe give them a call and ask? As long as its not the stock intel heatsink, you are good to go.
2) 32-bit windows is limited to 4gb memory. So get the 64-bit windows. As for the memory speed, you wont notice any difference. 1600 is the mainstream now, and they are cheap
3) Asus or Gigabyte are both good, as is ASROCk. For choosing motherboard, if you chose to go with 2600k, you should get the z68 motherboards, and almost all have USB 3.0, many of the new ones have PCI-E 3.0, though we probably wont see it becoming useful for another few years, it is more "future proof"
4) 850Watt is good enough, probably a little too much for someone who doesnt overclock and especially if you dont want to use 2 video cards. For a single video card pc, 650w-750w is good (i only have 650w). But but but since its a free upgrade to 850w why not.
5) For SSD brands, I would suggest intel or crucial. Avoid OCZ, their SSD return rates were the highest last year. Their current generation ssds are better, but still... you dont want to risk it. Corsair is better, but they just had a recall recently this summer. Intel had its firmware troubles as well, for the 320 ssd series, but the firmware update has been released. I would suggest going with the 510 series, it utilizes sata3.
6) Standard is good
7) There's plenty of fans for the case, except the front, so get another 140mm for the front. It is a fulltower, so its going to be huge.

Just a question for you, what resolution are you to game on? and are you planning to play any of the big games coming out this winter? That'll help you decide between 570gtx and 580gtx

Hey there, just a couple of questions first
-what resolution of monitor do you have?
-have you thought about buying the components yourself and letting someone to build it?
-Are you planning to overclock the cpu?

Right now just from looking over it, I suggest you switching the 2600k to a 2500k, which saves you a 100 dollars, and then use that money to upgrade your 550ti selected to a 560ti 1gb

If you are not planning to overclock the cpu, a liquid cooling kit is probably unnecessary and causes more trouble, but then they dont have a good selection of air heatsinks

Quote from Maxyim

This is rather alarming. Any idea if this is legit?

Pro tip: when assessing how biased a source is on the internet, try typing the name into wikipedia and see what comes up:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Republic

Gee, I THINK Freep may have a slight ideological bias. And probably is not staffed by professional meteorologists. Just a thought.

Quote from Maxyim

If so, I just want to give a big fat "well played" kudos to left-wing parties around the world for such a highly successful power grab tactic! Wonder what will happen now...

Why even phrase this thread as a question if you've already picked a team to join and are busy waving their flag around?

I've made $375 off Diablo 3 so far. Does that mean the game is fun? No, but it does mean I've made some cash from a video game!


In all seriousness, here are my sincere thoughts about the RMAH and it's implications on the game (taken directly from Penny Arcade):

So, as those who have mostly left the bulding already, Diablo 3’s Real Money Auction House is double mysterious and we don’t know what it’s for. Well, okay: we know know. The “moneys.” What I’m saying is that getting new shit actually is the game. For us, anyway. Getting and, crucially, equipping new loot. The whole AH thing short-circuits the entire idea: the game is, functionally speaking, a pinata. Right? Obviously, you could just go buy candy at the store. It’s not about having candy. It’s about getting candy.

Source (I still can't post urls...): penny-arcade.com/2012/06/27

It's the Auction House that's killing it for most people, any item you want is readily available to buy which wasn't the point of Diablo. The point was to trade with other people to acquire better gear, not have it be ready and buy it. I will miss Diablocast because it was my number 1 podcast to watch and listen to.

Quote from GeNMaKB

I am glad that my topic has spawned such excellent discussion. I do not have the time to read through everything right now (fucking dentist) but I will later tonight. My interest is definitely piqued. From what I have read of your post already, Pyrrhic, you deserve a +1. It is nice to know that there are people out there that find the lore of Diablo as interesting as I do.

Edit: I thought that the souls of Mephisto, Diablo and Baal were trapped in the abyss, following the events of Diablo II: Lord of Destruction. How did Adria mark their souls for capture within the Black Soulstone?

In the Behind the Scenes DVD, they talk about how they were throwing around ideas for what to do with the story, and they decided that since the Dark Exile, Diablo has been conspiring to kill off the other Evils and unite all their souls into one body, his body.

Paraphrased a bit for some quotes (bold is my emphasis):


"Leah represents innocence. Leah represents hope. She is smart, she is resourceful, she has powers of her own. She represents everything that humanity can be."

"What happens to Leah is sort of the ultimate tragedy and is what is going to happen to everybody if you, the player, doesn't stop it."
(The people will die, or they will become hosts for demons/corrupted...?)

"One of the guys had this idea for this kind of cool NPC girl you meet out in the woods with a bow, and there was some suggestion, that she might have been the daughter of the Wanderer from Diablo 2"

"Her mother was the witch Adria, Adria was a character that occurred in Diablo 1. I think we look at her as this woman who was obsessed with the occult, the arcanum. You know, chasing mysteries and magical powers over the course of her life."

"She meets with the Dark Wanderer and falls in love with him, and at this point he has been corrupted by Diablo, and she bears his child, and this child is Leah.."

"It was clear that she was not fit to be a mother, and potentially she had her own dark mission, such that Adria gave up Leah for adoption."

"Ultimately it was Cain that recognized this baby was very special and kept her safe for the past twenty years."

"He potentially knows that evil is lurking within her, but because he carries so much guilt from the past games, trying to help people understand that the sky is falling, and not really taking action, he felt he needed to take her on and raise her the right way. And on the other hand, he knew if this girl so much as looked sideways, he knew it would be his job to take her out."

"Since she was a little girl, Cain's been roaming around this map looking for pieces of this prophecy of the End Days. All that while, he's teaching Leah to be his apprentice. He would have been constantly talking to her about this prophecy, you know, 'At the End of Days, angels and demons will fight on the land of man.' but she has never seen angels or demons so she doesn't believe it, but at the same time she closes her eyes and sees these nightmares and doesn't know if they are real or just her uncle's stories blending together."
(Yep, called it that the End of Days isn't fully manifested )

"Leah eventually has to come to terms that everything he had been telling her was real, and she finally realizes that and starts fulfilling this and becomes this new Cain for us. Tyrael, as a mortal now, begins to rely on Leah as that Deckard Cain role. Together, they help pretty much uncover Diablo's maneuverings and what he's been planning under the surface of all of this all along."

"In trying to solve this riddle of how Diablo comes back again, we kind of had the idea that maybe this time he comes back through his mortal offspring."

"All the way back to the Great Exile, this has all been Diablo's plan. At a certain point he discovered the idea of the Prime, the idea that all the Evils can become one, and become exponentially more powerful than they had ever been before, and that essentially the last 300 or so years have been his plan to off all the other Evils."

"For the first time all the essences of these 7 prime evils now, go into Leah and she turns into Diablo and becomes the one prime evil."
(That's a direct quote, confirming that the Diablo in game was not the Prime Evil aka Tathamet, and just all the 'essences' supercharging Diablo?)

"It fits with a lot of the stories that were told in the original Diablo and Diablo 2, where we see really precious characters succumb to this kind of corruption and madness and evil, and so this was an opportunity for us to take a character that a player directly interacted with, and hopefully that the player really likes, and see that exact thing happen to her. It was just too evil for us to resist."
(Must have been fun compiling this story, wish I could have been on that team. )

"To see her father Diablo take her over and turn her into a demon lord is the greatest tragedy we could think."

"It's tragic what happens to her. But I think the truth of Leah is she's innately heroic. She's a good person. But this evil was rooted at a genetic level. And the turn that her life takes was inevitable to some great degree. When ultimately her turn comes, it feels terrible. We want you to feel like you've been socked in the gut, like you know, "anyone but her." Her spirits still out there somewhere. There's a good girl there that deserves to be saved and brought back from the Abyss. While we don't have any clue yet what subsequent chapters will be, a couple clues (Metzen winks), I'd bet that we would chase that down because it feels right from a story level, and it feels right from a character level."
(Covetous Shen: Do you think that Leah is lost forever?
Player: Diablo consumed her. She is gone.
Covetous Shen: Do you not think Leah's soul is stronger than that? But, oh, but then sometimes I-I forget that you have not seen everything that I have seen.)


So this is Diablo's plan he has been going after for centuries. The whole 'Adria marked the souls' thing? Well, for one, do we actually trust her at her word? No, not after what she does and the fact we have been 'played like a fiddle' by Diablo the entire time.

For all we know, Izual could have been the one that rigged up the Black Soulstone. Or Zoltun Kulle, who the other characters pretty much drilled into our skulls was untrustworthy, set it up himself to suck in the big boss Angels and Demons and feigned surprise to try and get us to let him use it on his own. Or the Evils/Diablo themselves at some point, since as far as I know, the events of Diablo 2 were the first time they had ever been 'smashed' and Tyrael was likely the one that thought smashing their stones would send them to the Abyss. (The same soulstones we know were flawed and used as tools by the Evils, thanks to Izual)

Tyrael's my man, but like he says in the game:

Angels do not, in fact, know everything.

I'd have to look for a precise timeline/in-game dialogue, but:

Tyrael:Three hundred years ago, I selected Kulle and six others to form the Horadrim. He was a great man who was driven mad with his long quest to hunt evil.
Player:
Tell me, why did the Horadrim have to kill Zoltun Kulle?
Tyrael:
He delved into powers not meant for men, trying to fashion an artifact that could fill his empty heart with the souls of angels and demons. The Horadrim had no choice but to slay him. The order... never recovered.

So potentially, the Black Soulstone may have been around for hundreds of years, around the same amount of time, as stated in the BtS quote above, that Diablo has been planning his big 'middle-finger' to his brothers and sister. Again, would have to look up references, but now is possibly the first time in centuries the Evils were ever vanquished, since the Primes were running amok on Sanctuary and the Lessers were chilling in Hell due to the Eternal Conflict going to a standstill as all eyes focused on Man.

Although the Great Conflict burned hotter and longer than any of the stars in the sky, neither side could gain dominion over the other for long. Both factions sought some way to turn the tides of the war to their favor. With the ascension of Man and his mortal realm, the Great Conflict ground to a mysterious halt. Both armies paused in a breathless stalemate, waiting to see to whose side Man would eventually turn.

So, it is possible that the souls were 'marked' centuries ago, and Adria was just making sure all the pieces came together, like getting Deckard Cain out the picture, guiding the Nephalem hero to find ZK's bits, making sure Belial and Azmodan got the kibosh put on them, etc.

"Corruption has the strength of deceit, but innocence holds the power of purity." - Adria, Diablo

Is Adria just a 'cultist' or corrupted mortal, or is she something more than that?

I'm skeptical that they were planning it way back then, but the townsfolk in D1 cast her as a super duper magic user, or something not human.

Why don't that old crone do something for a change? Sure, sure, she's got stuff, but you listen to me - she's unnatural! She doesn't eat or drink, and you can't trust somebody that desn't drink at least a little.

The witch, Adria, is an anomaly here in Tristram. She arrived shortly after the Cathedral was desecrated while most everyone else was fleeing. She had a small hut constructed at the edge of town, seemingly overnight, and has access to many strange and arcane artifacts and tomes of knowledge that even I have never seen before.

Adria is wise beyond her years, but I must admit - she frightens me a little. Well, no matter. If you ever have need to trade in items of sorcery, she maintains a strangely well-stocked hut just across the river.

While I use some limited forms of magic to create the potions and elixirs I store here, Adria is a true sorceress. She never seems to sleep, and she always has access to many mystic tomes and artifacts. I believe her hut may be much more than the hovel it appears to be, but I can never seem to get inside the place.

Adria truly bothers me. Sure, Cain is creepy in what he can tell you about the past, but that witch can see into your past. She always has some way to get whatever she needs, too. Adria gets her hands on more merchandise than I've seen pass through the gates of the King's Bazaar during High Festival.

Doesn't eat, drink, or sleep allegedly, able to get whatever she wants, most of the town is scared of her.. She seemed to know a lot about what was really going on too.

"No Mortal can truly understand the mind of the Demon. Never let their erratic actions confuse you, as that too may be their plan."

"There are many artifacts within the Labyrinth that hold powers beyond the comprehension of mortals. Some of these hold fantastic power that can be used by either the Light or the Darkness. Securing the Anvil from below could shift the course of the Sin War towards the Light."

"This is a place of great anguish and terror, and so serves its master well. Tread carefully or you may yourself be staying much longer than you had anticipated."

"You will become an eternal servant of the Dark Lords should you perish within this cursed domain. Enter the Chamber of Bone at your own peril."

"The Heaven Stone is very powerful, and were it any but Griswold who bid you find it, I would prevent it. He will harness its powers and its use will be for the good of us all."

So since we now know she was apparently an agent of Diablo, we can assume she was there to make sure things went according to plan. What is this plan?

From the D2:LoD instruction manual:




That was from something called Prophecies of the Final Day by the way.

Druid lore excerpt:

They created a new culture and language, cutting themselves off from their Barbarian cousins and their ways, vowing not to return to the Steppes of Mt. Arreat until the time of the Uileloscadh Mór, the final battle between the men of the world and the demons of the Burning Hells.

At the Túr Dúlra, the greatest of the Druid Colleges, stands the magnificent oak Glór-an-Fháidha. This tree is the most revered source of the Druids guidance and teachings. Under its branches, for centuries, the Druids of Scosglen have been honing not only their powerful arsenal of natural magic, but also the martial skills they have retained from their Barbarian forefathers. They have done this because they believe themselves to be the world’s last line of defense when the time of the great conflict comes, a time they believe is at hand. Lashing out in fury at the recent insurgence of denizens of the Burning Hells, and at the Leathdhiabhala, demonic corruptions of the very creatures they have vowed to defend, the Druids have, at last, emerged from their forests, marching toward their final stand against the minions of Chaos.

In D3 we have the Prophecy for the End of Days, which is a 'warning about Hell's ultimate invasion of our world,' and the pieces of the puzzle mentioned in it seem to be coming true. We were also supposed to learn why the Hells didn't invade 20 years ago in the game.

And at the End of Days, Wisdom shall be lost (Malthael being gone, or the mortal Tyrael's demise in X1?)
as Justice falls upon the world of men. (Obvious events of D3, or that Tyrael became aspect of Wis., leaving Justice to Nephalem)
Valor shall turn to Wrath - (Imperius raging over Hell invading, or Imperius waging war on the impudent Nephalem)
as all Hope is swallowed by Despair. (In-game events, or tied to the above, Imp's betrayal. sends Auriel into despair)
Death, at last, shall spread its wings over all -(All these lines reference angels/aspects, Malthael returns as Death?)
as all Fate lies shattered forever. (In-game event of the Hero 'shattering' the fate that Heaven lost that day, or a future event where Ithereal gets destroyed, probably by Malthael/Imperius)

So we know the culmination of this storyline, which they have claimed will get resolved in D3, is this final battle/ultimate invasion of Sanctuary by Hell. Something that has been prophecized for centuries and something that the Evils themselves seem to know all about.

I think Diablo/Evils knew what would happen in D3 as well, I forget what he says exactly but why would he send Adria away to be used later if he, and the angels, were sure he would succeed in the attack on Heaven, since it was kind of 'written in stone' on the Scroll of Fate?

My answer, he wouldn't, he knew he would be stopped, in fact, he and Belial/Azmodan wanted to be stopped. Ever look at the various forums and see all the complaints about 'beLIEal more like beFAILal amirite?? lol y is azodon tellin me where he attack??? teh gaem say he the gr8est general. y iz diab0 tellin me bout his hell gaets????' They were leading you along to do exactly what they wanted you to do.

Sidebar: The Prime Evil, supposedly Diablo in the game. The following is said by Tyrael while on the quest, Prime Evil.

Player:
What do you speak of when you say the Prime Evil?
Tyrael:
It is the sum total of all seven Evils housed within one body. There is an ancient legend, known only to a few, of the great Dragon, Tathamet, who was the original embodiment of evil.
The legend says that he was ripped apart during an epic battle with Anu, and that the Burning Hells are composed of his remains.
Player:
Who is Anu?
Tyrael:
Just as Tathamet was the ultimate evil, Anu was the ultimate good. It is said by some that the Crystal Arch is all that remains of this great warrior.
Player:
Then Diablo seeks to become the Dragon once again?
Tyrael:
In a manner of speaking, yes.

So, either one Nephalem can be more powerful than what is basically one of the (accidental) creator gods of the entire universe, or Diablo was merely supercharged with the souls of the other Evils, and not really the Prime Evil, which even the CE artbook shows as a hydra thing. (Coincidence, D3 was codenamed Project Hydra?)

Also said by Tyrael:

But the Black Soulstone is flawed and cannot contain that many demons for long. We must capture Azmodan within it and shatter it... lest all these Evils be reborn.

Obviously that didn't happen because for reasons we will likely only know in the expansion, Diablo's body was just tossed over the side of Heaven, and the Black Soulstone was left intact.

Now, I don't know if it means anything, but it's near the end of the artbook. They're either concept art for the Child Emperor, or possibly for the future plot. Right below what looks to be a Cultist drawing, there are 3 children sitting 'Indian style' with elaborate headdresses. The middle one has a mostly different clothing style than the other two, while the other two are almost identical to each other. They both have 'face paint' or tattoos in red and blue on their face and bare chests, their eyes are shut with the 'paint' filling in their eyelids, and have what looks to be a 'third eye' possibly tattooed on their forehead. They also have some black jewelry on around their neck, upper left arm, and wrists.

"There is much about the future we cannot see, but when it comes it will be the children who wield it." - Adria, Diablo, talking about Wirt

So, we know if the BS isn't destroyed, the evils will get loose. The Nephalem are super powerful. Diablo possibly wants to re-make the Tathamet hydra. Theory: the Evils will possess children that Adria and/or Triune cultists have been raising after the Worldstone was destroyed, giving them massive power. Enough power to reform into Tathamet and smash the Heavens once and for all. (We, of course, thwart this plan by rescuing Princess Leah (has to be a reason they retconned Warrior into Prince Aidan) and find out her family's destiny is to bring back Anu and/or defeat Tathamet, which is why Diablo and the Evils were working to corrupt and destroy the Leoric bloodline)

Update: Some support for Princess Leah/Leoric bloodline's greater purpose?

So as we know, Mephisto was soulstone'd under the Zakarum Temple of the Light and was eventually able to corrupt them. What did those manipulated leaders do? Proclaimed Leoric king of Khanduras. The Archbishop Lazarus (bastard led us into a trap!) was 'intent' on Leoric choosing the 'broken-down monastery' as his seat of power. (Hmm, wonder why.. )

http://d3db.com/lore/i/leorics-journal-part-1

We have just arrived in Tristram, and I must say I'm a bit dismayed. This place is a backwater filled with serfs and an ancient, broken-down monastery, hardly fit for the king of Khanduras! I cannot fathom why Lazarus was so intent on this becoming our new seat of power.

http://d3db.com/lore/i/the-skeleton-king

The Zakarum high priests in Kurast proclaimed Leoric king of Khanduras many years ago. He ruled well until Diablo's influence drove him mad, and the loyal knight Lachdanan was forced to slay him. Afterward, Diablo himself raised Leoric from the dead as the Skeleton King until the monarch's son Aidan vanquished him.

However, the Diablo 1 lore almost seems to imply that Lazarus wasn't under demonic control until they had 'settled' and Diablo used his powers to coerce and eventually corrupt him.

Sensing that freedom was within his grasp, Diablo entered the nightmares of the Archbishop and lured him into the dark, subterranean labyrinth. In his terror, Lazarus raced throughout the abandoned hallways until he at last came to the chamber of the burning Soulstone. No longer in command of his body or spirit, he raised the stone above his head and uttered words long forgotten in the realm of mortals. His will destroyed, Lazarus shattered the Soulstone upon the ground.
...
Lazarus too, had fallen under the sway of the Demon, keeping close to Leoric at all times.

He also was apparently "a guardian of Mephisto's soulstone in Kurast" so it's up in the air, but I think he wasn't, as far as D1 is concerned, corrupted until they got to Tristram and Diablo reawakened, while in Diablo 3 he likely was corrupted from the get-go.

The wording is kind of vague, for what we are talking about here, but this piece also sounds like Leoric just came in on his own volition in D1 and was all 'For the glory of the Light! I am your king! I shall save you from the ever encroaching darkness! I claim this ancient Monastery as my seat of power in the name of the Zakarum!'

It was then that the great northern lord Leoric came unto the lands of Khanduras and, in the name of Zakarum, declared himself King. Leoric was a deeply religious man and had brought many Knights and Priests with him that comprised his Order of the Light. Leoric and his trusted advisor, the Arch Bishop Lazarus, made their way to the city of Tristram. Leoric appropriated the ancient, decrepit Monastery on the outskirts of the town for his seat of power and renovated it to match its time-lost glory.

It could just as easily be interpreted as what we know from the D3 lore, (although it has been retcon'd that he is an eastern lord now) that the corrupted High Priests told him 'Go be king here, in the name of Zakarum' and Lazarus was all 'Hey look, this building looks cool, right? What do you mean it's a dump? Castles are like so last year, you should just pick this place, I mean, we're already here, no?'

Personally, I'm thinking it was some minor retcons to go along with their current plotline, if solely for the fact that they felt the need to give the Warrior a backstory as a son to King Leoric of all things. For all that we saw of it in the game, the Warrior might as well have been just some nameless Warrior or Gheed's brother, as from what I remember, the whole 'Oh my Heavens, Leah is actually the heir to the throne!' plot hasn't come into play....yet.

Possibly going along with the whole 'The Evils were/are playing you like a fiddle' theory, Jay Wilson in some 2011 interviews (although he's talking about Diablo 2's perspective of course):

If the player thinks they outsmarted the forces of Hell and evil and they basically won, well, they are in for a big shock. Because what they are going to discover in Diablo 3 is that things have gone pretty exactly the way Hell wanted them to go all along.

What we really wanted was the idea of a story where we do have some time away, it’s about 20 years later, and things have actually gotten better because evil’s been “destroyed”. But the truth is that it’s actually all just been a ruse, it’s all part of the plan. It’s really just making sure everyone’s nice and complacent for the real war that’s coming.

It's really hard on my eyes.

I'm having trouble reading. The red bars where the usernames are located is especially aggressive.

I disagree with Mysticjbyrd and WishedHeHadBeta. I'm hoping that inferno is difficult enough that these builds could be viable with other pure DPS classes. I think builds like this allow other people in your group to forego certain survival skills to choose the straight damage buffs. Overall the game is a cooperative experience, so I wouldn't be surprised to see this build or a similar one in action. The reason Blizz gave us so many options for builds is that we can use them. They may not have intended for us to use those builds, but we definitely will see someone using it if they find it entertaining.

Quote from dnavarre

Actually, we aren't getting closer...I just saw this. The game got pushed back to the second quarter of 2012. Video.

Wow... never been so happy to get Rick Rolled.

My take on the skill swap situation:

So, the "anywhere, anytime" skill swapping had to go. It's just too easily exploitable (I made a video back in patch 4 demonstrating this if there still is people who aren't conviced: Macro abuse demonstration).

Now the Nephalem Altar and everyone's suggestions on alternate systems... I think the altar is a decent change. It's a tad bit better than in-town only swapping since it gives them the possibility to plant altars at key locations when you might want to swap out skills. And if you have the need anywhere else it's only a 10 second SoR journey away. People's suggestions to instead have portable altars with cast time to change spells or is basically the same. I mean how is a portable altar with a 10-15 sec cast time any different from a Stone of Recall back to town? Apart from having to click the portal back and potentially replacing any existing portals I see none.

As for out-of-combat swapping I think that is a worthy contestant to the current system. I kinda liked the fluid way of swapping skills in patch 4, but as said it was too exploitable. If you could only change skills in combat that would basically solve the problem. Yea, you could probably run out of combat and swap skills, but I don't really see that as that a big problem.

Now people are saying implementing a combat system would take a lot of time etc etc, but I don't know. The in-combat hook already exists, to some degree at least. The thing I noticed was that if you are in a public game solo and having your Templar with you. When someone joins the game the templar will despawn and go back to town, but, if you are currently fighting monsters then he will stay at your side until they are dead. So while this may only be a primitive kind of combat system they at least have something that they could build upon.